


the light that guides his way

by CSM



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Post 508, Post-Invasion! Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 20:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8767453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CSM/pseuds/CSM
Summary: Post 508, Crossover event. After saving the world, Felicity and Oliver have a little conversation, filling in the other on their alien ship and time travel adventures and Oliver makes small confession.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely adored the crossover episodes, the Arrow and LOT episodes especially, with all that happened I'd hope that Oliver and Felicity would have a conversation, alas there was no time, so this is where fanfic comes in.

“Hey! How was your date with Barry?” A  bright familiar voice calls out teasingly.

 

Oliver skips up the last few stairs towards her area, but his steps falters when he takes in Felicity’s attire. She’s wearing one of his old hoodies - that she stole months ago and never returned, even after their break up and an old wash soft jeans that he knows are her favourite - her feet are propped up on the table in those clunky soft boots of hers. It’s Felicity’s go to comfort clothes, which is weird that she would wear them in the bunker of all places.

 

“It wasn't a date.” Oliver grumbles for the fifth time for the night, both she, Sara and Diggle have all been teasing him about him having drinks with Barry, before Barry went back to Central City. “Why are you still here? I thought you would have head home after the past few days of…”

 

“Utter madness?” Felicity offers with a laugh, “after team legends gave me a drop here so I could get my car, I realized my stomach still isn't agreeing with...well movement to be honest. I don't think it was safe for me to drive home. So I was hoping you would give me a ride home.”

 

“What if I didn't come back here tonight?” He counters, but his eyes roam her body, checking to see if she’s not as alright as she claims to be.

 

“Ooh, your date went _that_ well?” Felicity teases with delight, obviously she’s not as sick enough that she can't tease Oliver more about his drinks with Barry. “I don't think Iris would be too pleased about that. Although I suspect she’d be more jealous of _Barry_.”

 

She breaks out into fits of giggles even more so at Oliver’s confused expression. “So I'm guessing time travel was everything you hoped for?”

 

Felicity sobers at that, tugging her hair out of its ponytail, her blonde hair in a disarray as she fluffs it, in that way she does after a long day of work and Oliver has to remind himself to look away, not wanting to be caught staring.  He's gotten good at doing that over the past few months.

 

“It was...something.” Felicity offers her nose wrinkling in thought. She leans back against her chair and Oliver takes that cue to sit opposite her, he can tell she’s buzzing to talk about it, trying to find the words to express herself, “You know I've always been fascinated with what Sara does, but I think I always thought of it more sci-fi fantasy. Rationally, I knew she wasn't just going on a road trip with some friends, but actually doing some good. Being in the Waverider, meeting Gideon, all of  It was a bit surreal. I never really thought about how easily things can go wrong, how easily they can just erase the _world_ with one wrong move. There is no Control and Z for them...that’s undo in…”

 

“I know.” Oliver interrupts with a smile, “it’s not the first time you’ve said that.”

 

“Oh.” Felicity says with a sheepish grin, “anyway, I can safely say that time traveler will _not_ be on my resume. That and my stomach couldn't handle all the time jumping. I'd spend  90% of my time in the med bay.”

 

“Not what you thought it would be?”

 

“It was exciting, seeing the 50s, aliens, saving team legends 2.0, but I think I’ll stick to living in 2016.” Felicity says lightly.

 

“Well, I can say I'm grateful for that.” Oliver says honestly, they exchange small uncertain smiles.

 

“Although, travelling to the _future_ I wouldn’t be opposed to jumping a year or two ahead.” Felicity says thoughtfully.

 

“What happened to the girl, who was offended that I skipped to the last chapter of the Deathly Hallows to see who died?” Oliver teases.

 

“That’s just barbaric.” Felicity replies with a shake of her head, “Besides, after the year I’ve had, it would be nice to know that a year from now things got better.”

 

“Felicity…” Oliver isn’t sure how to respond to that, knowing that the end of their relationship is only one of numerous things that went wrong this year.

 

“So aliens.” Felicity clears her throats and looks at him seriously, clearly indicating they aren’t going to talk about their past, “Sara mentioned that things got rough, she didn't go into specifics though. Given the fact that I had my head between my knees and speaking nonsense on the waverider I can't imagine a spaceship being any better.”

 

Oliver rubs his neck uncomfortably, the memories of his hallucination slowly coming back to him. Other than his talk with Barry he hasn't really thought about it, in fact  they didn't have time to really fill in anyone about what they had seen either, there was more pressing matters of an alien invasion. Felicity seems to pick up on his subdue demeanor and she takes her feet off the table and scoots her chair closer to his, “what happened up there? They didn't do like _experiments_ on you did they?”

 

Oliver can't help but gwaff at the way her eyes widen and she make a drilling sound while mimicking a drill to her temple. “Not quite so graphic, or invasive, thankfully.”

 

“But, it wasn't exactly sharing a cup of tea and biscuits either?” Felicity summarizes, reading through the lines, she notices his hesitation immediately and quickly gives him an out, “you don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to.”

 

“I saw my parents. It was a hallucination, mind control, but I saw them, I smelt them. I hugged them. It was both the best thing that ever happened, and the worst thing.” Oliver confesses, his heart  beating rapidly in his chest as he begins to recall the moments he realizes it was all fake. He feels a familiar soft hand slip through this, soft thumb rubbing soothing strokes between his knuckles, the one way guaranteed to calm his racing heart. “This world, this place, it was as if I never got on the Gambit. Everything was perfect, too perfect.”

 

Felicity licks her lips, “What else did you see? Was everyone else in their own different world?”

 

Oliver shakes his head, “we were all there, in this place, at first we couldn't remember our real lives. Laurel was there.”

 

“Oh.” Felicity says with a short gasp her hand squeezing Oliver’s hand, “did Sara get to see her? I know it wasn't real, but it felt real, right?”

 

“I was going to marry Laurel.” Oliver blurts out, he can feel Felicity’s grip loosen but she doesn't pull away. “I felt like I should be happy, but something just felt off and then the flashes started happening.”

 

“Flashes?” Felicity repeats in confusion.

 

“Memories.” Oliver clarifies, he licks his lips he can see the questions swirling in her eyes, “memories of my real life. At first I tried to make sense of the flashes, tried to figure it out, and then I found you and John, you’d both formed team Arrow.”

 

“Was _I_ the Green Arrow?” Felicity asks almost scandalized at the notion.

 

Oliver chuckles shaking his head in the negative, “no but that certainly would have woke me up. Especially, if you had beat the crap out of me the way John did.”

 

“Green arrow me? Probably could have kicked your ass.” Felicity stipulates, a teasing smile tugging at her lips, no doubt trying to diffuse some lightness into situation and Oliver can’t help but smile in return.

 

“Of that I have no doubt.” Oliver says in agreement he then sobers, “but when I saw you, I saw important bits of our life and I realized it that world, all of it wasn't real.”

 

“Our?” Felicity echoes and Oliver can see her begin to pull back, walls he's only recently associated with Felicity, begin to eradicate. “As in me? Or me and John?”

 

“Both.” Oliver supplies, it's not a lie, but he doesn't think she wants or can handle hearing she wa the one that pulled him through the fog of that hallucination. “Everything started to make sense and I had to try and pull everyone else out of their fog, John, Sara, Ray and Thea.”

 

“Did Ray and John see Andy and Anna?” Felicity asks quietly

 

Oliver shakes his head in the negative, “No… I don't think John was even married to Lyla. It never came up, but the guy I met as the Green Arrow, definitely worked only with you.”

 

Felicity wrinkles her nose in displeasure, “John and I weren't…”

 

“God no.” Oliver answers with a laugh, his heart skips a beat, when he realizes her first thought is that she would end up with _a_ Green Arrow, “actually you were engaged to Ray.”

 

“Ray? Why would Ray dream of that?” Felicity asks in confusion.

 

“It wasn't a dream world, Felicity.” Oliver clarifies, when she looks at him skeptically, “it was a hallucination. They took bits and pieces from bad things in our lives and thought that was perfect world we wanted to see and I think it was more what has been on our minds lately. At least for me.”

 

“You’ve been thinking of your parents a lot lately?” Felicity asks her voice soft and full of concern.

 

“Flashpoint.” Oliver clarifies and he can see the way her eyes soften in understanding, her fingers that is still clasping his starts it's usual small strokes off comfort in his hand. “I never thought I'd be given the option to see them again, and when I was able to, when I realized I could have just stayed, lived that life, part of me wanted to.”

 

“Why didn't you?” Felicity's voice is soft and full of uncertainty, “it sounds like you had your entire family back, you were happy?”

 

“But I wasn't full.” Oliver repeats the words he’d said to Barry not too long ago, he gestures to the bunker, “this life that we have, being the green arrow. This gives me purpose, I couldn't give this up and...you…”

 

“Me?” Felicity echoes.

 

“You were the one to guide us home.” Oliver continues, realizing Felicity probably isn’t ready to hear that he wasn’t ready to let her go, “There was so many things wrong, with that world, but there was this building, Smoak Technologies, not even the you of that world, knew about it. It was like that was the only real thing in that world. That building was our way out of that world.”

 

“Smoak Technologies?” Felicity repeats, her nose wrinkling in confusion, “But it’s not real.”

 

“It could be.” Oliver offers, “you’ve been saying for months now that the board and Palmer Tech, seems hell bent on not rehiring you, and you aren’t sure if you want to work for those idiots anyway, so take your shares, start your own company.”

 

“Would you really be okay, with your family’s company just being left in the dust like that?” Felicity asks concern.

 

Oliver shrugs, “It hasn’t been in the Queen family for so long, besides you deserve to build your own legacy, the way _you_ want it to, with your own rules.”

 

“Smoak Technologies.” Felicity repeats, testing out the name, “It’s definitely something to think about.”

 

Oliver grins, “See?It was the only real thing to exist in that that entire fake world.”

 

“What do you mean?”

“That life I had with Laurel wasn't real, so many of the conversations I had with her, before I realized who I was and where I was, were echoes of conversations I've had with _you._ It’s like they tried to copy some of my happy memories to make it seem more real but they had the wrong girl.”

 

“Oh.” Felicity squeaks she hasn't released her hold on his hand yet, but Oliver suspects she eventually will as he continues, despite his original reservations, he can’t help but confess how he felt when he realized she wasn’t part of his life in that world.

 

“I could never live in a world where you never loved me, even if it was only for 9 months. I rather have the memory of you loving me for 9 months than not at all.” Oliver confesses, this time he is the one rubbing soft circles in the center of her palm, they only way that can calm _her_.

 

“Oliver, you know I love...that it was more than 9 months.” Oliver heart clenches at the way she stumbles over her words, the way she purposely doesn't finish her original sentence. The hope flutters in his chest at the fact that she couldn't say she _loved_ him. She couldn't confirm the past tense, and her small hand is still held somewhat limply in his own much larger hand. “Why would you give up a life with your parents for that?”

 

“I know what it was like to be loved by you for 9 months, Felicity. All of that wasn't real” Oliver says simply, he gestures to the bunker with his free hand while simultaneous squeezing her hand with the other, “This is, this life I've built the past 4 years. This is real. This is where I belong.”

 

“Oliver.”

 

“I'm not telling you this with some kind of expectation.” Oliver clarifies, he can see the uncertainty in her eyes, “I just want you to know I could never live in a world where you aren't part of my life, and I'll take that in any way I can. I rather have the option that one day down the line, there is a possibility for the two of us, than not at all.”

 

He stands, their hands still clasps and pulls her to her feet, she’s still at a lost of words, so he releases her hand and smiles giving her an out, “C’mon I'll drive your car and take you home.”

 

Unsurprisingly, she takes his cue and drops the topic, she takes a step forward and sways slightly, Oliver immediately reaches out, resting his hand on the curve of her back, “So maybe having that glass of champagne after spewing my guts all over space and time wasn’t the best idea.”

 

“You were always a lightweight.” Oliver teases as he helps he hovers behind her as she makes her way down the stairs.

 

“In my defense, how was I supposed to know that the French wine is   _so_ much stronger than any wine I’ve ever had? Also, fancy cheese does not make a good dinner either.” Felicity grumbles, it’s a one sided  argument Oliver is all too familiar with, and it brings a smile to his face.

 

He almost placates her with his usual ‘yes dear’, but frowns when he realizes they aren’t at that place anymore. They are both lost in their own thoughts, and sit in comfortable silence for the entire ride to the loft, but just as Felicity thanks Oliver for the ride and he hands over her keys, she places a hand on his forearm, stopping him before he leaves.

 

“Oliver.”

 

He looks at her questioningly, wondering if she wants him to walk her to the door, but she surprises him with her next works, “The two of us? Never completely off the table.”

  
  
  



End file.
